Allison Smith
ABOUT ME My full name is Allison Hale Smith. I was born on May 5, 1993, in Fort Worth, Texas. I have one younger sibling, my brother Andrew. I am currently a broadcast journalism major, with a minor in international area studies, at the University of Oklahoma. Neither side of my family is exceptionally large. I only have four cousins, all on my dad’s side of the family, and two aunts and uncles that are blood related. My roots largely consist of German, Irish, Swedish, and Dutch and the majority of my ancestors are fifth generation immigrants. MCLAUGHLIN FAMILY For this assignment I will be focusing on my mother’s mom side of the family. My mom, Joanna Lynn Hokanson, was born to Judy McLaughlin and Gary Hokanson in Leominster, Massachusetts. She also has a younger sister, my aunt, Kristen Hokanson. My grandpa, Gary, attended Kendall School of Design and majored in furniture design. My grandma did not attend college and worked for the local school districts while she was a young. Both my grandma and grandpas’ families have strong roots in Michigan. My grandma Judy was born to Neil McLaughlin and Lorraine Helen Hinz in Charlotte, Michigan. She had three other siblings: Margaret, Jim and Fred. Her father, Neil, was a dentist and attended college at Olivet and the University of Michigan and is a 1933 graduate of the school of dentistry. Neil was also a member of the Delta Sigma Delta fraternity, which is the oldest and largest professional dental fraternity. Neil McLaughlin was born July 11, 1910, in Vermontville, Michigan to Clyde Lee Devillo McLaughlin and Mattie Mae Updike. Clyde was a doctor, drafted during WWI and the youngest sibling born into a family of farmers. His parents were Devillo McLaughlin and Ester Griest. While researching I discovered some family scandal. The Griests were a wealthy family and the McLaughlin’s were farmers. Ester was Devillo’s second wife and his first wife was Ester’s sister. Mattie Mae Updike’s parents’ relationship also involved some scandal, especially in the context of the time period. Mattie’s mom, Mary Ray was in a relationship with George Franklin Updike. It is not clear whether the two got divorced or if George just walked out on the relationship. Either way both avenues were greatly frowned upon. HINZ FAMILY Lorraine Helen Hinz was born September 21, 1912, in Ann Arbor, Michigan to Ernest Frank Hinz and Matilda Klawitter. Lorraine’s name used to be Lorene but she had a name change when she was 17 or 18 years old because she did not like Lorene. Lorraine graduated from Ann Arbor High School in 1931 and was a proofreader for Edwards Brothers offices. She had two siblings: Margaret Louise Hinz and Walter Hinz. Her father, Ernest Hinz, immigrated to the United States when he was 4 years old along with his younger sister Lucille Hinz. Ernest served in the Spanish-American civil war. He was a part of the 31st Michigan Infantry and sent to Cuba in 1898. He served in the Spanish-American civil war in order to gain citizenship. After serving he worked for the Ann Arbor post office. Ernest was able to hold his job through the Great Depression because he worked for the government. Ernest died in Michigan from prostate cancer in 1958. Ernest's father, Karl Charlie Hinz, was born in Frankfurt, Germany. Karl was also a military man and fought in the Austro-Prussian War. Lorraine’s parents, Matilda Klawitter and Ernest Hinz, got married in Ontario, Canada at the Windsor Avenue Methodist Church. TRADITIONS AND BELIEFS The McLaughlin Family has a deep love for the lake, ocean and pretty much anything water related. The McLaughlin’s have at one point or another always lived on one of the Great Lakes or vacationed on the coast of Florida. My grandma Judy’s grandparents kicked off the tradition of migrating down south during the winter months in Michigan, and Anna Maria Island, Florida is what they considered home away from home. The tradition continued on down the line with my great grandma and grandpa McLaughlin and my grandma and her siblings renting houses on the ocean or bay for three or four months, known to the locals as snow birds. It was just this past spring break that my mom, grandma and I went down to Florida to stay with my great aunt on the island. Education was also very important to the men in the McLaughlin family. Both Clyde Lee Devillo McLaughlin and Neil McLaughlin were members of the Eaton County school board. Clyde strongly believed in an education for women and made sure to provide an education for his daughter Mary Ester, who attended college at Eastern Michigan University. In addition, Neil also attended college to become a dentist. Neil followed in his father’s footsteps when it came to the importance of an education and made sure all his kids had the opportunity to attend college. In fact, the only McLaughlin family member who did not go to college was my grandma Judy. RESEARCH The majority of my research was done through ancestry.com. My mom's cousins are very interested in our family's history and had already done a lengthy amount of digging in terms of finding documents, photos and family stories. This made ancestry.com a very viable source for me because all my family's information was in one location. In addition to online resources, I talked to multiple family members and learned some new things about my grandparents. I also used stories that I was already familiar with and have heard growing up. SUMMARY My immediate family has had the most impact on me. I grew up around my mom’s parents and that is who had a watchful eye over me and the greatest influence. My grandma Judy has always lived near us and been the designated babysitter when both my parents were working. She is a very reserved and religious individual and has probably had the biggest influence on me in terms of religion. She is adamant on attending church every Sunday and made sure that my brother and I went to Sunday school and attended church camps. Relating to race and gender my family is split down the middle on certain topics. There is overall an agreement that men and women’s roles should be equal. They believe in an education for women and that women should be out in the workforce just as much as men should. In terms of race that is something that has never really been deeply discussed in my family. I don’t know if it’s just because it has never been an issue or if race is some giant elephant in the room; although if you look through my family’s history everyone is Caucasian. Even so, my family has always been firm on treating other’s how you want to be treated and to respect others no matter their race, gender or social class.